Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

01Rameswaram to Thumba

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam grew up on the island of Rameswaram, where his father Jainulabdeen owned boats that ferried pilgrims and his close friend was the son of the head priest of the Ramanathaswamy temple. As a boy he sold newspapers. He studied physics at St Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli, and aeronautical engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology. In 1969 he moved to the new space organisation, ISRO, and became project director of the Satellite Launch Vehicle. On 18 July 1980 the SLV-3 lifted off from Sriharikota and placed the Rohini satellite in orbit, making Bharat the sixth nation able to launch its own satellite.

02Missile man, people’s President

Back at DRDO from 1982, he led the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme that produced Prithvi and Agni. As scientific adviser to the Defence Minister he was one of the leaders of the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in May 1998. He received the Bharat Ratna in 1997. In 2002 he was elected the eleventh President and was known for answering letters from schoolchildren. A vegetarian who read the Gita and the Tirukkural and played the veena, he wrote Wings of Fire, his story of these years. He died on 27 July 2015 while giving a lecture at IIM Shillong.